By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
DEVALLS BLUFF -- Palestine-Wheatley Coach Beverly Bass will never know whether or not her Lady Patriots could have rallied for a win over top-seeded Woodlawn Monday at the 6A-AA District Fast Pitch Softball Tournament at White County Complex.
The umpires decided to take away P-W's final chance in the tournament's semifinal game.
Trailing 9-4 in the bottom of the sixth, with one more at-bat coming in the seventh inning, the home plate umpire suddenly and unexpectedly raised his hands proclaiming "time's up, game over."
No warning, no explanation, no concessions, even though most thought there were at least 10 minutes left in the game.
The extra time a result of an injury delay to Woodlawn's starting pitcher in the fifth inning.
"I was really stunned when the umpire stood up and called the game," said DeValls Bluff Coach Beth Robinson. "I thought he had added the time back on for the injury. I'm not sure about the rule, but I certainly think he (the umpire) made a mistake in calling the game at that point."
The good news for the Lady Patriots is that they did qualify for the Region 6 Tournament which begins Saturday at Sherwood.
They did so by shutting out Humphrey 15-0 in Monday's opening round game.
The regional's first round matchups have not yet been scheduled but the Lady Patriots will play a first-round game at 10 a.m.
The Woodlawn Lady Bears swept P-W during the regular season conference schedule and were unbeaten in the league headed into the district tournament. Woodlawn went on to defeat Gillett in Monday's final to win the district title. Woodlawn will carry the No. 1 seed into the regional while Gillett will be seeded second and Hazen third. Palestine-Wheatley carries the No. 4 seed into the tourney.
Woodlawn led 3-0 over P-W Monday before the Lady Pats scored three runs in the top of the third to tie the game at 3-3.
Woodlawn broke the tie with two runs in the bottom of the fourth using a passed ball and a sacrifice out.
P-W left two runners stranded in the top of the fourth and fifth innings and one stranded in the sixth.
Leading 6-4, Woodlawn took advantage of three Lady Patriot errors in the bottom of the sixth to go along with two bunts and a walk to score three times to lead 9-4 before the game was called.
Against Humphrey, P-W scored eight runs in the first inning and added five more in the second and two in the fourth.
Libby Martin scored four times in the game while Nikki Bass and Kara Siler scored two runs each.
The Lady Patriots banged out five hits and took advantage of 10 walks.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
The story was the same for Forrest City Mustang Coach Reggie Murphy on Monday.
Another conference game for his Mustangs -- another conference loss.
The Mustangs fell 10-5 in a AAAAA-East conference matchup against Blytheville, leaving the Mustangs at 4-14 and 0-11 in the conference.
The Mustangs have three conference games remaining -- a single game today against Jonesboro and a doubleheader next Tuesday at Cabot -- and a nonconference doubleheader Friday against Marion.
Monday, Blytheville took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning and added two more runs in the second while retiring six of the first seven Forrest City hitters.
Only Jimmy Aldridge reached base on a single.
A Blytheville run in the third left the Mustangs down 4-0 and a three-run fifth made it a 7-0 Blytheville cushion.
Forrest City scored five runs late in the game after Murphy inserted some of his younger players.
"The younger guys came on and got us some runs," Murphy said. "I was happy to see that."
Murphy has only four seniors on the team this season.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
BLYTHEVILLE -- Forrest City pitcher Mallory Nelson did her part Monday against Blytheville.
But she didn't get much help from her teammates defensively.
Nelson pitched three-hit ball against the Lady Chickasaws in AAAAA-East conference action, which in most cases, is good enough for a certain win.
She was backed by an offense that banged out 10 hits.
In the field, however, the Lady Mustangs committed 11 errors.
That led to a 14-4 loss keeping the Lady Mustangs winless in the league.
"I felt good about the game going in," said Forrest City Coach Amber Main. "The last time we played Blytheville (at the Marion Invitational) we lost by one run, 7-6. To lose as badly as we did Monday was something I wasn't expecting."
Besides making the errors in the field, Main said her Lady Mustangs left the bases loaded twice late in the game.
"We were still in a position to get some runs and the win," Main said. "We just couldn't push the runs across the plate when we needed too."
The Lady Mustangs fall to 3-18 overall and 0-13 in the league with one regular season game left to play against West Memphis on Thursday at the Sports Complex.
Forrest City will miss postseason tournament play.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
CLARENDON -- The Hughes Lady Blue Devils did what they had to do Monday at the District 6 Slow Pitch Softball Tournament played at Clarendon.
Going in, the Lady Blue Devils had to win twice in the double elimination style bracket to extend their season.
They did.
Hughes lost to West Helena 12-6 in the first round but defeated Elaine and Osceola in the loser's bracket before being eliminated by West Helena 18-6 in the loser's semifinal game.
The two wins qualified Hughes as the third seed into the Regional tournament which begins Saturday at Augusta.
West Helena went on to defeat Clarendon twice to win the district title, defeating the Lady Lions 7-5 in the first championship game to force the "if" game, which they won 8-3.
Hughes makes the postseason cut in their first full season of girls' softball.
Next season, the remaining slow pitch high school teams will all make the switch to fast pitch.
First-round regional pairings are not yet available.
By FRED CONLEY
T-H Sports Editor
The 19-under East Arkansas All Star Hornets basketball team finished third at the Arkansas AAU State Championships held in North Little Rock.
The Hornets finished 2-1 in pool play beating Northwest Arkansas CBS 86-85 and the Arkansas Angels 68-67 both in overtime and losing 72-71 to the Arkansas Starz.
The Hornets lost in the semifinals and then defeated Northwest Arkansas CBS again in a come-from-behind 65-62 win in the consolation game.
The Hornets trailed by as many as 15 points in the consolation game.
The Hornet team members are Vincent Millens of Forrest City; Daniel Smith (Blytheville); Courtney Brown (EPC); Lincoln Harris (P.A.); Wade Boeckmann (Wynne); Leon Dyson (Turrell); Billy Turner (Turrell ); Kevin Morris (Turrell); Aeris Cooper (Turrell) and Sidney Tate (West Memphis).
The team is coached by West Memphis' Larry Bray and Palestine-Wheatley's Terry Farmer.
* PREP SPORTS
FAST PITCH SOFTBALL
Monday's Scores
Blytheville 14, Forrest City 4
A-AA District Tournament
Palestine-Wheatley 15, Humphrey 0
Woodlawn 9, Palestine-Wheatley 4
Thursday, April 25
West Memphis at Forrest City, 4 p.m.
SLOW PITCH SOFTBALL
Monday's Scores
District 6 Slow Pitch Tournament
Osceola defeated Elaine
WHelena 12, Hughes 6
Clarendon 10, Osceola 1
Hughes defeated Elaine
Clarendon 14, West Helena 4
Hughes defeated Osceola
West Helena 18, Hughes 6
Championship Game
West Helena 7, Clarendon 5
"IF" Game
West Helena 8, Clarendon 3
HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL
Monday's Score
Blytheville 10, Forrest City 5
Tuesday, April 23
Jonesboro at Forrest City, 4 p.m.